GUILTY Bali - Sheila von Wiese Mack, 62, found dead in suitcase, 12 Aug 2014 #2

[gracehatter]

TS American atty says he didn't confess:

https://tablet-ssl.oakpark.com/News/Articles/9-22-2014/Schaefer%27s-lawyer%3A-Tommy-didn%27t-confess/

I'm starting to think that when Durkin last spoke to TS he had not confessed but did do so afterwards at some point. Notice how Dirken does not say when he last spoke to him, because various news outlets are still claiming TS did, as late as yesterday. http://www.news.com.au/world/pacifi...r-of-sheila-mack/story-fnh819y6-1227064190421

 

[gracehatter]

I don't know if we ever worked out exactly how long HM & TS were together before the murder.

This article speaks of him talking to a friend in May of this year .. saying that he had visited the friend and was distraught over the death of his previous girlfriend and would never find love like that again. Same friend said that TS contacted her again at the start of August saying that he was flying to Bali in a few days.

Can we presume that they started going out together (or at least sleeping together) in May or June? .... seeing as HM is 3 months pregnant, presumably with his child. Though the previous girlfriend was killed in April in South Africa - so who knows how long she had been in South Africa. And who knows if TS is the father of HM's baby.

http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/8-19-2014/Complex-portrait-emerges-of-Tommy-Schaefer/

I think we can assume that TS and HM had probably known of each other at OPRF but by the time she dropped out he had graduated and 2 years is a big difference in American high schools for socializing between respective grades among the teens I work with, although it does happen I know. I think they reconnected after SWM and HM had moved to the condo on the Lakeshore and HM was staying away from home more as reported, toward the early spring. I know I read that from some other source.
The former girlfriend Rachel Smylie was in her junior year at U of M in Ann Arbor and had broken off her relationship with TS right around the time they graduated in 2011 and he went to another college. In the comments of the Durkin article someone states that their kids knows TS and that HM and TS had only been dating 3 months.

 

[SouthAussie]

I'm starting to think that when Durkin last spoke to TS he had not confessed but did do so afterwards at some point. Notice how Dirken does not say when he last spoke to him, because various news outlets are still claiming TS did, as late as yesterday. http://www.news.com.au/world/pacifi...r-of-sheila-mack/story-fnh819y6-1227064190421

I think so too, gracehatter.

Any phone conversations that a US attorney may have had with TS would most likely have been facilitated somehow through his Indonesian attorney, as US lawyers have no jurisdiction or bearing in Indonesia. So it was probably before the confession, not afterwards. His Indonesian lawyer resigned at the time of the interrogation. Who then would have facilitated a phone conversation between TS and the US attorney after the interrogation? The police? Somehow I don't think so.

.

 

[Kamille]

What was that about? I've tried to understand why he'd carry the suitcase to
the 7th floor. It made more sense when they mistakenly reported the murder happened on the 3rd floor, but I guess it happened on the 6th. Was he trying to find a place to hide the suitcase with the body in it? The roof? Guess he had no idea hotels have cameras. Leaving the suitcase in the waiting taxi cab was another stupid move. Still gives me chills to imagine what these two did to Sheila.

From my understanding it did happen on the 3rd floor where SWM's room 317 was. He decided to carry the suitcase, with SWM's body it, to his room 616 on the 6th floor via the staircase rather than risk running into someone on the elevator I suppose. But he miscalculated how many floors he had climbed and ended up on the 7th floor and then had to go back down one floor via the staircase to get to his room.

MOO

 

[Kamille]

I'm starting to think that when Durkin last spoke to TS he had not confessed but did do so afterwards at some point. Notice how Dirken does not say when he last spoke to him, because various news outlets are still claiming TS did, as late as yesterday. http://www.news.com.au/world/pacifi...r-of-sheila-mack/story-fnh819y6-1227064190421

TS supposedly confessed on Sept 12th didn't he? I remember it was a Friday that he was interrogated. HM supposedly was interrogated on the 17th. So if he did confess, either his lawyer has not spoken to him since then, he lied to his lawyer about what he told them or he's trying to backtrack with his confession. Perhaps this is why there was a problem between him and his Indonesian lawyer.

So at this time, he is once again without a lawyer in Indonesia. He has an American lawyer who is reluctant to fly over there because he knows there is nothing he can do really and he's probably concerned about being reimbursed or spending a good portion of the "fund" on his travel for no good reason. I suppose he'll do the same as Elkin did and try to find another Indonesian lawyer for TS that he can work with over the phone and Internet?

MOO

 

[Kamille]

I think we can assume that TS and HM had probably known of each other at OPRF but by the time she dropped out he had graduated and 2 years is a big difference in American high schools for socializing between respective grades among the teens I work with, although it does happen I know. I think they reconnected after SWM and HM had moved to the condo on the Lakeshore and HM was staying away from home more as reported, toward the early spring. I know I read that from some other source.
The former girlfriend Rachel Smylie was in her junior year at U of M in Ann Arbor and had broken off her relationship with TS right around the time they graduated in 2011 and he went to another college. In the comments of the Durkin article someone states that their kids knows TS and that HM and TS had only been dating 3 months.

Well TS was from OP/RP and not living in downtown Chicago. I think they probably just had lots of mutual friends in common and saw each other when these friends all got together for parties and just to hang out at clubs and such. If anything, SWM may have thought that moving HM out of OP might have put an end to those friendships but it seems it did not and the friends just started hanging out downtown and at the beach closer to where she had moved to. I think it actually may have put an end to any "good influence" friendships she may still have had left from her school years and just left her with the "ballers" and hip/hop, rap wannabees so things got worse instead of better.

MOO

 

[FigTree]

ETA - sorry gracehatter - didnt see your post until after I'd posted.
Thinking along the same lines - I agree with you!

I had another thought today. Remember the reports that said that Sheila was seen on CCTV in the lobby in the very early hours of the morning? I was wondering if that was when she took her jewellery and other valuables down to her lock box. She had been ripped off in the past by friends that HM let into their home. I wonder if she was unnerved by TS showing up (her brother said he thinks that she did not expect that) and decided to lock up a bit more of her stuff and request that no-one had access to the lock box but herself.
I imagine that she would have wanted to do this privately, when few people were around. As TS arrived around midnight, a late night trip down to the lobby to secure her valuables may have been a step she took to avoid being ripped off again while she was sleeping or not in her room. And HM did not seem aware that Sheila had requested that no-one else had access to her lock box.

The front desk would have been manned with a night crew member in a nice hotel like that. And police would not necessarily release that kind of info as it would be part of them building their case.

:thinking:

Nice post SA - I think you may have outed a possible motive.
Maybe the initial intention and plan from both HM &TS was to fake a robbery of all of Sheilas cash and jewelry - possibly even her passport.
Rip Sheila off - and get the travel insurance to pay for it...

but, Sheila knew them both too well, and did as you said - took her jewelry and any valuables (possibly travelers cheques as well/cash) down to the safety deposit box and had them locked up and secured with the passports making sure no-one else had access to the box.

Plan foiled -
That would have made both HM & TS angry.
Especially if beyond that they had a plan to then take off together for their own little holiday leaving Sheila high and dry in the Hotel.
I mean, why else would he come over for 2 days - I bet HM &TS had no intention of staying with Sheila once they got her money - they just planned to do what they had already done to her once before - and got away with it - I would not put this past them at all.

They both didn't give a hoot about Sheila - and they both did this to her.

The other motive 'didn't like boyfriend' is just rubbish - and it doesn't surprise me that these two evil horrors blamed the victim for their 'anger' and blamed Sheila that they killed her.

 

[Kamille]

I think so too, gracehatter.

Any phone conversations that a US attorney may have had with TS would most likely have been facilitated somehow through his Indonesian attorney, as US lawyers have no jurisdiction or bearing in Indonesia. So it was probably before the confession, not afterwards. His Indonesian lawyer resigned at the time of the interrogation. Who then would have facilitated a phone conversation between TS and the US attorney after the interrogation? The police? Somehow I don't think so.

.

I wonder if all these people are speaking English in the interrogations or if things are getting muddled through translation? We've heard conflicting reports that HM's US lawyers were both allowed to sit in on her interrogation and other reports that they were not. We've also heard that the lawyer TS had was facilitated through the group from the UK who also sent the death penalty advocate. And that both of them were in his interrogation. Now that lawyer has withdrawn. Perhaps that UK group was upset to find out that his family had actually hired a US attorney and didn't want to work with him?

ETA: I also wonder if the Durkin is just "stretching the truth" of what he knows to help the "fund". Harder to collect when the person admits to murdering someone I would think. And easy to say "well that's what I heard" when confronted with the actual facts.

MOO

 

[Mountain Misst]

(snip)
Maybe the initial intention and plan from both HM &TS was to fake a robbery of all of Sheilas cash and jewelry - possibly even her passport.
Rip Sheila off - and get the travel insurance to pay for it...

but, Sheila knew them both too well, and did as you said - took her jewelry and any valuables (possibly travelers cheques as well/cash) down to the safety deposit box and had them locked up and secured with the passports making sure no-one else had access to the box.

Plan foiled -
That would have made both HM & TS angry.
Especially if beyond that they had a plan to then take off together for their own little holiday leaving Sheila high and dry in the Hotel.
I mean, why else would he come over for 2 days - I bet HM &TS had no intention of staying with Sheila once they got her money - they just planned to do what they had already done to her once before - and got away with it - I would not put this past them at all.

They both didn't give a hoot about Sheila - and they both did this to her.

The other motive 'didn't like boyfriend' is just rubbish - and it doesn't surprise me that these two evil horrors blamed the victim for their 'anger' and blamed Sheila that they killed her.

Am with you on that theory Figtree. IMO - no consideration for what might be ahead, just have a good time now... the NOW generation.

 

[Orange Tabby]

Memorial Service for Sheila this Saturday in Chicago

An article in the Chicago Tribune, reported by Christy Gutowski, offers details of Sheila’s memorial service. The eulogy will be given by her friend Elliott Jacobson, who says that since Sheila’s death he has reread her emails and replayed her recorded voice messages to him. There is a photo of Sheila from 25 years ago and there are also some other intriguing details in this long story.

Some excerpts:

Jacobson said the shock of losing a dear friend, then learning that her only child is the prime suspect in a slaying that has brought international intrigue, is like receiving "two machine-gun shots in rapid order."

Jacobson, a longtime political operative, met von Wiese-Mack in 1983, when he arrived in Chicago to work on Ohio Sen. John Glenn's ill-fated presidential campaign. The impeccably dressed socialite was well-versed in politics, literature and art, and she was entrenched in the city's cultural scene.

The granddaughter of German immigrants who descendants say dropped the "von" in their last name in the 1900s, the history buff changed her name back to its original form years ago to honor her ancestry. "She admired everything that was aristocratic in life but, on the other hand, she was the embodiment of acceptance and tolerance of everything and everyone," Jacobson said of von Wiese-Mack. "Her friends could form a virtual United Nations, and that was not driven by any calculation — she just was that way."

Jacobson said his last contact with von Wiese-Mack was an Aug. 8 email in which she complained that her daughter had been missing from the hotel for four hours. She wrote that she was afraid, Jacobson said, but it was unclear to him whether her fear was for her safety or that of her daughter. Like von Wiese-Mack's siblings, Jacobson believes Schaefer's appearance in Bali several days after mother and daughter arrived came as a surprise to von Wiese-Mack.

The victim's brother, William Wiese, said Heather Mack has not contacted family members, nor have they attempted to reach her. His sister's body has been cremated, he said, and the family has chosen St. Chrysostom's columbarium as a final resting place. [BBM]​

See: http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81464119/

Emails Sheila wrote to friends like Jacobson could be useful in the prosecution's case. Texts, too, if she wrote any.

Even more useful would be emails, texts, phone messages, and records of phone calls between Heather and Tommy.

 

[Orange Tabby]

The local ABC affiliate in Chicago, WLS, is now also reporting Tom Durkin’s claim that Tommy has not confessed. But Durkin strangely, very strangely, will say no more. From the short story on the WLS website:

Durkin would not answer any further questions or provide any further information other than his assertion that Schaefer did not confess.​

See: http://abc7chicago.com/news/attorney-tommy-schaefer-did-not-confess-to-bali-murder/321002/

 

[Orange Tabby]

The other motive 'didn't like boyfriend' is just rubbish - and it doesn't surprise me that these two evil horrors blamed the victim for their 'anger' and blamed Sheila that they killed her.

Am with you on that theory Figtree. IMO - no consideration for what might be ahead, just have a good time now... the NOW generation.

The good news is that not all young people and not everyone in the hip hop world are like Tommy and Heather. (I like FigTree's phrase "two evil horrors.")

There’s a short news piece in the online publication hiphopwired.com by Latifah Muhammad which expresses complete disbelief at Tommy’s and Heather’s stories. Latifah has the right “attitude,” describing Heather as wayward, wondering how Tommy could be offended when Sheila paid for his trip, and just generally mocking them.

Here are a few things from her brief but insightful account:

A Chicago-area struggle rapper has admitted to murdering his girlfriend’s mother during an all-expense-paid trip to Bali , because he felt “hurt and offended” after they argued. One might ask what 21-year-old Tommy “Tommy Exx“ Schaefer could be arguing with 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack about, since she took him on a free trip, but let’s not get caught up on semantics.

Schaefer had a strained relationship with his girlfriend, Heather Lois Mack’s, mother. She didn’t like him very much –especially after he and the daughter (allegedly) stole her credit card, posted up in a swanky Chicago hotel, and video-taped the extravaganza.

They ended up in Bali last month, on what was said to be part of Wiese-Mack’s continuing efforts to patch things up with her wayward offspring.

Mack, who is pregnant, told cops that her mom was killed by some other crazy dudes, and that she and the boyfriend barely escaped with their lives. Nobody bought that story.​

See: https://hiphopwired.com/2014/09/23/struggle-rapper-admits-killing-girlfriends-mom-bali-trip/

 

[Hiandmighty]

There is a new update from Ts's mom saying (paraphrased) his situation has not changed, and she had been advised that she shouldn't comment on recent reports, so she won't. She has spent a few hundred on food for him and phone privileges and she is pleased he has a good defense team in Indonesia, including the anti-death penalty group.

 

[nightwatch]

There is a new update from Ts's mom saying (paraphrased) his situation has not changed, and she had been advised that she shouldn't comment on recent reports, so she won't. She has spent a few hundred on food for him and phone privileges and she is pleased he has a good defense team in Indonesia, including the anti-death penalty group.

Oh the horror, her own son goes 9000+ miles from home and kills someone else's mother. Maybe she should buy stock on Uncle Ben. Jmo

ciao

 

[LinasK]

Oh the horror, her own son goes 9000+ miles from home and kills someone else's mother. Maybe she should buy stock on Uncle Ben. Jmo

ciao

She must be so proud!

 

[SouthAussie]

Memorial Service for Sheila this Saturday in Chicago

An article in the Chicago Tribune, reported by Christy Gutowski, offers details of Sheila’s memorial service. The eulogy will be given by her friend Elliott Jacobson, who says that since Sheila’s death he has reread her emails and replayed her recorded voice messages to him. There is a photo of Sheila from 25 years ago and there are also some other intriguing details in this long story.

See: http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81464119/

Another article that people outside the US cannot read. :sigh:

We can see the photo, but that is all.

Thanks for posting a good excerpt from it Orange Tabby. Is there anything else that we do not already know in the article?

 

[Orange Tabby]

Another article that people outside the US cannot read. :sigh:

We can see the photo, but that is all.

Thanks for posting a good excerpt from it Orange Tabby. Is there anything else that we do not know already know in the article?

I put all the important things in my post, but there are little things which could be of general interest: her brother remembering Sheila as a girl who liked to read books while comfortably perched in a tree, kind words from the pastor at her church, the fact that she was born in Minneapolis and was raised in Michigan and Wisconsin, that sort of thing.

I knew that sometimes videos don't cross borders, but I didn't know that print content could also be subject to such restrictions.

Am I permitted to post the entire article here? If you or someone else says "yes," I'll do that.

 

[SouthAussie]

I put all the important things in my post, but there are little things which could be of general interest: her brother remembering Sheila as a girl who liked to read books while comfortably perched in a tree, kind words from the pastor at her church, the fact that she was born in Minneapolis and was raised in Michigan and Wisconsin, that sort of thing.

I knew that sometimes videos don't cross borders, but I didn't know that print content could also be subject to such restrictions.

Am I permitted to post the entire article here? If you or someone else says "yes," I'll do that.

Thanks for the offer, but we are only allowed to post 10% of articles due to copyright. We generally get all the important bits of an article over a few 10% posts though.

 

[Simply Caustic]

Interestingly, I got a text alert from a local Chicago station regarding the boyfriends claims of innocence. I find that to be interesting mainly because I rarely get alerts - maybe two a week - plus I'm hoping that more attention will perhaps draw more attention to the case and that friends of the murder team might call in, if they know anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kamille]

Interestingly, I got a text alert from a local Chicago station regarding the boyfriends claims of innocence. I find that to be interesting mainly because I rarely get alerts - maybe two a week - plus I'm hoping that more attention will perhaps draw more attention to the case and that friends of the murder team might call in, if they know anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the current drive for more attention in the US is simply to solicit more donations to the "fund". Seems to be working.

MOO